Lewis Hamilton explains BIG sacrifice he made in Mercedes F1 testing

LEWIS HAMILTON has explained why he made a big sacrifice in the second day of Formula One testing.

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he had to take a big sacrifice in F1 testing.

In bitterly cold conditions, F1 drivers were giving their new cars a run-out for the second day at the Circuit de Catalunya.

However, the temperature meant that it took a long time for the constructors to get heat into the tyres and therefore delayed the start of the first phrase - of which Valtteri Bottas tested for Mercedes.

When it was time for Lewis Hamilton to jump in the seat for the second session he instead insisted Bottas continued for the remainder of the day.

Explaining the decision, the Brit says that his call allowed his team to test the car as much as possible which was especially important given the morning problems.

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I took the decision to sacrifice that time in order for the team to gain better understanding of the car by going through the run plan.

Lewis Hamilton

"With the weather conditions being up and down and the loss of track time we had yesterday, it made sense to keep Valtteri in the car this afternoon," Hamilton said.

"Having run in the morning, he was comfortable in the car already and we would have lost about an hour of running time with the driver switch.

"With no real understanding of whether good weather was coming or not, I took the decision to sacrifice that time in order for the team to gain better understanding of the car by going through the run plan."

Bottas drove home the second fastest lap time of the day with a 1:19.976.

And he explained how difficult it was in the baltic conditions.

"It was very cold on track today; I don't think I've ever driven in such cold conditions before in Formula One,” Bottas said.

“Testing is always difficult in these temperatures, the tyres are just not made for these conditions.

"But we made the most out of the day. In the morning, we focused on aero work with different aero rakes on the car, running various tests.

“In the afternoon, I was doing long runs and we also worked on the set-up.

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Hamilton let Valtteri Bottas drive in both of the sessions on day two.

“It was quite tricky in these temperatures, but we managed to get some work done and found some answers to our testing items.

"The weather is obviously unfortunate, but there's nothing we can do about it and it's the same conditions for everyone.

“In these conditions, I would say today was a good day. I hope that the weather is going to get better soon and I'm looking forward to tomorrow and Thursday."